Unconventional scaling of the superfluid density with the critical temperature in transition metal dichalcogenides

We report on muon spin rotation experiments probing the magnetic penetration depth (T) in the layered superconductors in 2H-NbSe₂ and 4H-NbSe₂. The current results, along with our earlier findings on 1T′-MoTe₂ (Guguchia et al.), demonstrate that the superfluid density scales linearly with T_c in the three transition metal dichalcogenide superconductors. Upon increasing pressure, we observe a substantial increase of the superfluid density in 2H-NbSe₂, which we find to correlate with T_c. The correlation deviates from the abovementioned linear trend. A similar deviation from the Uemura line was also observed in previous pressure studies of optimally doped cuprates. This correlation between the superfluid density and T_c is considered a hallmark feature of unconventional superconductivity. Here, we show that this correlation is an intrinsic property of the superconductivity in transition metal dichalcogenides, whereas the ratio T_c/T_F is approximately a factor of 20 lower than the ratio observed in hole-doped cuprates. We, furthermore, find that the values of the superconducting gaps are insensitive to the suppression of the charge density wave state.